Graveyard Wedding
by lezonne
Summary: Harry thought he knew what Ginny's dream wedding was, until the day finally came. Fluffy one-shot focusing on hurt/comfort themes. Written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition Round 4 Season 2.


**A/n:** Written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition Season 2 Round the prompts 2 and 7 (ground and bird), both of which were word prompts. Enjoy!

* * *

Wide-eyed, Harry looked around the scene in front of him, still processing everything even as Ginny walked down the aisle, smiling radiantly.

He honestly never expected her to go to such extremes. Ginny wasn't necessarily a sentimental person, and he wouldn't consider himself one either. Gushy things were Hermione's territory, things that she did for Ron. Harry and Ginny went on dates and planned their wedding, but there was nothing overly romantic planned for the event- at least not from Harry's knowledge.

To think they were getting married in a graveyard. He never thought he'd see a marriage like this, but even as Ginny stepped up to him he saw Hermione winking behind her head. Perhaps it had been her idea all along.

It didn't matter whose idea this was though, not when Ginny sacrificed her dream wedding for something that touched his heart so. He thought they were going to be married in the same place her parents and her grandparents before them got married, but he was mistaken. Prior to the wedding itself the venue switched, and now he was standing in a graveyard surrounded by close friends and family, not the two-hundred guests that Ginny originally told him about.

Behind them buried six feet under the ground were his parents. He remembered telling her weeks ago about something that had been bugging him.

"_You look troubled," she murmured, looking up from their invitations. She'd been going on for almost an hour now about the wedding and everything she had planned, yet Harry remained next to silent, helping her pick colors only when he was asked to._

"_What? Oh, it's nothing."_

_She frowned, leaning back to glare at him. "Harry James Potter, you are a truly awful liar."_

"_Only to you dear."_

_Her glare deepened. "Harry, I'm being serious. What's wrong with you? I know that wedding planning isn't a man's ideal pastime, but you look absolutely crushed."_

_He sighed, running his fingers through his hair. "There's nothing about the planning that's upsetting me Gin, honestly. I'm just a little troubled."_

"_Why's that?" she pressed, noticing the solemn look in his eyes. Leaning forward she gently slid her hands into his, intertwining their fingers. "Harry, what's troubling you?"_

"_Hermione came over last night," he began, looking elsewhere. "Ron apparently wasn't being too accepting of the wedding planning, which really isn't too surprising considering that it's Ron. He wasn't showing any enthusiasm and with her emotions on edge right now from work she needed to stop by. She was actually looking for you, but you were still out with Padma."_

"_Right."_

"_Well she mentioned that they were going to do special dances with their families. Hermione's going to do a special dance with her dad, and Ron's going to dance with your mom."_

_She was quiet for a moment, considering his words carefully. Then realization dawned on her, her own father-daughter dance peeking through. "You can't dance with your parents at the wedding."_

"_I wouldn't need to dance with them," he replied with a shrug. "I guess I'm just missing the idea of them being here, which is barmy since they haven't been around for anything else."_

"_Harry!"_

"_I don't mean it in a cruel way Ginny, it's a fact. They sacrificed themselves to Voldemort for my safety, and I'm sure that they have never regretted doing that. I just miss them more than usual right now."_

_Ginny nodded, scooting her chair closer to her fiancés. She gently rested her head against his chest, one arm circling around his waist as she closed her eyes. He returned the gesture loosely. _

"_If there was ever anything I could do Harry to have them there with you that day, you know I would do it."_

"_I know Gin, I know."_

Harry never expected her to really be able to do it. Handing the affairs of the dead is a tedious thing, and with her dream wedding already set up he never once entertained the idea of Ginny changing anything. It turned out that she had changed everything.

And she changed it just for him, so his parents could be there in spirit alongside hers. The sentimental value touched him almost as much as her smile touched his heart right now.

His whole world was perfect. Everyone he ever cared about was standing around in one small group.

* * *

"You look beautiful," he whispered, kissing the space below her ear as they sat together at the sweethearts table. Finally after the first dance and saying hello to all of their guests they had finally gotten a few minutes alone.

She smiled, turning her head to kiss his lips. "And you don't look too bad yourself."

"Thanks," he replied, smiling as they leaned back in unison against the chairs. They sat together for many moments just looking at the space in front of them, Harry rubbing her hand gently as they relaxed.

"Ginny?"

"Hmm?"

The question lingered on his tongue longer than it should have. "Why did you do it?"

"Do what?" she asked innocently, leaning her head back against the chair as she closed her eyes.

"You know exactly what," he responded. He pulled her hand to his lips, kissing it softly. "The wedding."

"What about the wedding Harry?"

"Why did you change it? Ginny, you've been telling me about your dream wedding since the day I proposed. You've been planning it ever since, telling me all about the ideas you've had in your head since you were a little girl. Yet our actual wedding was nothing like your dream. It took place in a graveyard, not in the building your ancestors have been married in. The wedding is all about the girl, so why did you change it?"

She sat up then, tilting her head to the side. "The wedding isn't all about the girl Harry. It's about the couple. The female might be extenuated more than the male, but it's still a joint union. The wedding should be no more important to me than to you. Girls just have more fun planning generally."

Harry blushed, knowing that she took their wedding day very seriously. It was, after all, a declaration of their love for one another and presumably the first day of the rest of their lives together.

"I didn't mean anything by it," he said quickly before she could start again. "I was happy to participate in the aspects of the wedding that I did, but I'm far happier to be wed to you. The wedding is just a party basically, but all I ever cared about was officially becoming your husband and having the people closest to us there."

"I know," Ginny replied, smiling again. "And that's why I gave up my dream wedding. I wanted you to feel as close to your parents as possible, and since we agreed to restrict the wedding to a small guest list I knew we'd be able to fit in the small space. And I wanted you to feel as close to your parents as possible."

"I always feel close to them," he whispered, drawing his new wife into his side. "They're with me, in my heart. I've always known that."

"And I know that having the wedding there meant a lot to you. That's why I changed the location."

Harry hugged her, inhaling her breath as she moved in close to him. He would never understand how he ended up with such a perfect wife, but he wasn't about to start questioning his life, not when it was ever so happy.

They sat together a while as the small collection of guests enjoyed their dinners. They picked at their own, too happy talking and kissing to really worry about eating. They truly looked like birds of love, swooning over one another as newly wedded couples usually do.

Harry couldn't recall a time when he felt so happy. And as his wife pulled him onto the dance floor at the start of a livelier song, he suspected he never would again. He held Ginny close as they moved around the dance floor, enjoying the company of their family and friends. He beamed at her, and she returned the gesture.

In his mind, he hoped she would hold that gesture forever. He absolutely adored when his new wife smiled like that- beautifully, and wide.


End file.
